The Girl Who Cries Blood and The World’s Smallest Girl

Premiere Sunday, September 13, 2009, starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT

To friends and family, they are typical Indian teenagers. Twinkle Dwivedi is a 13-year-old tomboy who hangs out with neighborhood kids, listens to music and studies only when she feels like it. Jyoti Amge just turned 15, loves fashionable clothes and dreams of being a Bollywood actress. Yet their medical conditions are anything but typical. To the outside, curious world, these girls are phenomena.

For nearly two years, Twinkle has reported spontaneously bleeding from her eyes as well as her head, hands and other body parts — though there is no visible source or injury to explain it. Jyoti is about the size of a 6-month-old baby, at 12 pounds and less than 2 feet tall, or 23 ½ inches; her delicate frame includes two fractured legs that prevent her from walking without pain. Though strangers who live 400 miles apart in separate Indian cities, they and their protective families are unknowingly connected in their unique spiritual and scientific search for healing.

Twinkle (age 13). The Girl Who Cries Blood.

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“Sometime I believe we’ll find a cure … but we are broken now. We’ve lost faith.” – Nandani, Twinkle’s mother.

The bleeding from her eyes and even hands, head and elsewhere on her body appears to start anytime — when Twinkle is watching TV, playing or simply doing nothing. There is no visible injury that prompts it, and she feels little pain. In fact, when the blood is washed off, no cuts or scrapes are revealed … it’s as if it never happened.

Some say a bad omen has been cast; others think she is possessed and yet others think it could be self-inflicted. Twinkle and her mother Nandani have tried dispelling the spirits at their temple as well as seeking medical treatment. But even doctors at one of India’s best hospitals are baffled and have not been able to provide a single medical explanation.

Now, mother and daughter embark on a pilgrimage searching for answers — visiting a Catholic bishop to find out if her case could be an instance of stigmata, the mysterious appearance of wounds like those Jesus suffered at his crucifixion; taking part in a spiritual cleansing at one of India’s holiest places; and meeting a famous practitioner of advanced ayurveda, an ancient form of natural health care. But in the end, they decide to put their faith in a top American blood specialist, Dr. George Buchanan, who is flying to India to investigate Twinkle’s extraordinary medical case.
When Dr. Buchanan gets an emergency call in the middle of the night that Twinkle has started bleeding, he is finally able to meet her and collect the samples for a range of sophisticated blood tests — perhaps offering a breakthrough. But the tests come back indicating only a minor problem of blood platelets, without answering how the bleeding is brought on. Dr. Buchanan is suspicious that the tears of blood could be faked, angering Twinkle so much that she abruptly leaves.

“I really very much admire this young lady and her mother and … see a very healthy relationship between the two,” he says. “My heart tells me that this really is truly something that I’ve never seen before. My head tells me as a physician scientist that in fact Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy [an illness fabricated or induced by a parent] is the most likely diagnosis. But I’m going to keep an open mind.”

Jyoti (age 15). The World’s Smallest Girl

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“Despite being different to the rest of the world she doesn’t consider herself small, she wants to do what you and I can do.” ― Kishanji, Jyoti’s father.

From birth, Jyoti survived against the odds. Doctors believed the 3-pound baby might live only a few minutes, but instead she began to miraculously strengthen. Her growth, however, was transient and by age 3, Jyoti knew she was smaller than the other children. Today, at age 15, she is just under 2 feet tall, or about 23 ½ inches, and weighs approximately 12 pounds — considered by record keepers as the smallest girl in the world, and revered by others as a goddess incarnate.
Although never medically confirmed, her stature is likely due to a case of acute pituitary dwarfism. With weak, breakable bones, Jyoti has sustained a number of serious injuries, including fractures to both her legs that prevent her from walking normally. Her family looks to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ram Soni to help her walk without pain. A series of X-rays reveal she has suffered bad fractures to her right thigh and left shin. In a condition called pseudoarthrosis, she has developed false joints that support the fracture points, which could cause long-term damage if left untreated. The good news is that Dr. Soni believes an operation to fix her legs is possible.

But when Jyoti is unable to endure the forthcoming blood tests because of the pain the needle inflicts on her tiny arms, her parents decide that the demands of full-scale surgery are far too risky. Now, they turn their backs on modern medicine and pin their hopes on a traditional Indian healer who claims he can mend Jyoti’s broken bones with a special ointment and a drink — a “gift from God.” They’re convinced this is the best chance of a cure. After all, she’s survived against the odds before, and she still has big hopes to fulfill.

“My dream is to do films,” she says, about becoming a famous Bollywood actress. “I think that when my legs get better I will be able to achieve my dream.”
The Girl Who Cries Blood and The World’s Smallest Girl were produced for the National Geographic Channel by Zig Zag productions — producers of NGC’s critically acclaimed special The Girl With Eight Limbs. For The Girl Who Cries Blood, producer / director is Paul Nelson. For The World’s Smallest Girl, executive producers are Brent Baker and Danny Fenton; producer/director is Paul Woods. For the National Geographic Channel, senior executive producer is Char Serwa; senior vice president of production is Michael Cascio; and executive in charge of content is Steve Burns.

The Girl Who Cries Blood Videos:

World’s Smallest Girl Videos:

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